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GARDEN OF POISON
What happened before dawn (Chapter 106)
If Anastasia were a dog, one would have seen her ears flop in discouragement at Dante's words. Because his memory being wiped out was something she had been counting upon. Apart from his eyes, his appearance was the same as before, and her brown eyes involuntarily moved to the top of his head, which he took notice of.
"Looking for these?" Dante asked her in a serious tone, and suddenly the two horns appeared. The sight alone had Anastasia's heart jump out of her chest. "Anything else you were looking for?"
Anastasia's eyes widened before meeting his red ones, and she shook her head and quickly replied, "No."
He stepped closer to her before coming to stand before her, and the horns gradually disappeared. His hawk-like eyes watched her, and he remarked,
"As ugly as the underworld is, there are a few women who hold ranks and praises for their appearance, but I doubt they can surpass you. For an earthling, you look flawless."
Anastasia didn't know which part of his sentence to focus on — the part where he was praising her or that he called her an earthling. Even though he remembered her, at the same time, it was as if he didn't belong in this place.
Acting as if he hadn't just given her a compliment, Dante ordered her, "Accompany me." He began to walk through the corridor.
Where to?! Anastasia thought, startled, before following right behind him, the hem of her dress brushing the marble floor. She noticed the servants ahead quickly turn and take off, but the demon in front of her didn't care about it and ignored the other 'earthlings', as he had addressed both them and her.
When they reached the dining room, Anastasia watched the servants standing outside open the door for Dante, who stepped inside the room. She did the same and noticed that it was just the two of them in the room. She watched Dante walk to the head of the table and take a seat as if it was the most natural thing to do.
"Sit."
Anastasia found the closest chair to her and was about to sit down when Dante asked her, "Do you know of anyone who will be joining us?" She shook her head in response. His blood-smeared hands came to support his chin as he asked his next question, "Then why are you sitting so far away?"
Why... he asked, Anastasia said in her mind. She saw the chair next to Dante move away from the table, which was her cue. Settling on the chair, she stared at the empty table, feeling his gaze on her. She glanced at him, and not knowing what else to say, she said,
"I am sorry for your loss."
"Don't be. Death is only the beginning, and Maxwell is probably happier now than being miserable when he was alive," Dante replied, his red eyes meeting her brown ones. "Some souls need to be relieved, not yours though."
"I am a little… confused about what is going on." Anastasia wasn't able to talk to Emily or Aiden, but she figured she could get answers directly from him.
Suddenly someone knocked on the door, and Mr. Gilbert stepped inside the room, accompanied by two servants. One servant brought a wide-rimmed bowl next to Dante, while another brought a pitcher of water mixed with lemon forward to pour on the prince's hands to rinse them off.
Once Dante's hands were clean, Mr. Gilbert asked, "Would you like the food to be served now, Prince Dante?"
Dante turned to look at Mr. Gilbert, whose back straightened, wondering if he had said something he shouldn't. He had already heard about the demonic air that had spilled out of the king's chambers, which came from the first prince.
Anastasia noticed the sweat on Mr. Gilbert's brow, and she had never seen the man this nervous before. But she didn't blame him, because internally, she felt the same. Dante finally answered,
"Yes, bring the food in."
Mr. Gilbert bowed and left the room with the two servants. Dante's attention shifted back to her, and he asked, "What are you confused about?"
Anastasia raised her hand to point to her own head and said, "The horns..."
Dante leaned back, his pose relaxed but not drooping or slouching. He explained, "The twisted horns signify royalty in the underworld, and there's more than just sinful souls burning eternally there. It is a world far more vast than the world of the living. Once upon a time, three demons climbed out of the underworld with their own motives. And as time went by, their actions caused an imbalance in life and in the power that was wielded, something the earthlings could never grasp, but only envy. So a woman of the forest came by, trying to return all of us back to where we came from."
"The triads?" Anastasia asked as she pictured the intricate coffins placed in the ruined city.
"Yes, the triads," Dante responded, his eyes narrowing as he continued, "The woman was powerful, and she first put the demon who was up to no good in a coffin. The next was the demon of destruction. But she wasn't powerful enough to put him back and she settled by having him trapped in this place."
Did it possess Dante, then? Anastasia asked herself. No. Even in the haze of terror and confusion, she had heard him clearly.
'I am awake, Earthlings.'
Which meant he was 'the' demon, the thought sunk in her mind. She wondered what he had done to be put to sleep.
"It looks like you have already figured it out," Dante remarked calmly, and at the same time, his skin revealed the cracked skin which glowed from within.
Anastasia felt her heart racing, and she asked him, "Which means you were always that demon?" She squeezed her hands together, which were resting on her lap. In a way, Dante was his siblings' and his father's ancestor, and it was something to ponder.
"Yes. Let me rephrase what I said to you earlier," Dante hummed before saying, "I don't have amnesia now, but I did until this morning, that is to say, before my memories as a demon returned to me. There were three triggers, and Maxwell's death was the last card to fall. The time has come to eliminate useless things."
"Eliminate?" Anastasia repeated, and Dante slowly leaned forward towards her.
"I need to finish what I started," Dante replied, his eyes glowing red. A glimmer of sinister emotion crossed his eyes, and Anastasia felt a shiver run down her spine when he added, "But before that, there is some housekeeping to be done in this palace, and there are a few scores to settle."
Anastasia could already guess that it would be the people who had disrespected him and his mother all these years. Surely, they were all sweating and losing their minds over the fact that the unfavourable prince was a demon from the underground.
Mr. Gilbert stepped back inside the room with the servants, who carried the various dishes and began to serve them one after another. The man asked,
"Is there anything else you would like, Prince Dante?"
"Yes. Step out of the room," Dante ordered, and it took a second for Mr. Gilbert to gather his thoughts before ushering the servants out of the room and closing the doors behind them.
Anastasia watched Dante pick up his fork and knife before she decided to ask, "Why did the king take such an extreme step?" If he didn't want to be the king, all he needed to do was to step down from the throne.
"Because he felt that he had lived long enough," Dante replied, and though he sounded nonchalant about it, it wasn't because he wasn't upset about his brother's death, but because his earthling body had merged itself with the demon's.
Anastasia's lips moved without a sound before she uttered, "How?"
"How what?" Dante asked, before taking a bite of his meat. As he chewed, his eyes met hers, and she asked,
"H—How can you be sure? He was the king…"
"He told me before he died."
Anastasia's eyebrows drew together before she realised the meaning behind his words. Was he there with King Maxwell when he died? She watched Dante cut into the meat and take another bite. When he looked up at her, he remarked, "For someone who plans to run away, you sure take an interest in the matters of the palace.''
Many hours ago, before the break of dawn, Dante was woken up by a clatter outside his room. But when he stepped out into the corridor, there was no one there, and instead, he was greeted by the faint scent of blood.
As it was coming from the side of the corridor where Anastasia's room was, he checked on her, finding her deep in sleep. The scent didn't fade, and he followed it, only to end up in front of the king's chamber. There were no guards present, as if they had been dismissed for the night.
Suspicious, Dante turned the doorknob and pushed the door open, and his eyes widened upon seeing Maxwell, who had stabbed his chest, his breathing laboured.
'Maxwell!'
'D—Don't come near me…'
'Let me help you,' Dante said, and cautiously raised his arms.
Maxwell coughed, and blood oozed out of his chest around his hands, and when he saw Dante move towards him, he warned, 'I will shred my heart out if you take another step, Dante!' His eyes were bloodshot, half because of the liquor and half because of tears. He said, 'I am beyond help and I am being h—haunted. I am so tired, and a coward…and want it to stop….'
'Pull out your hand, Maxwell. Whatever it is, we can work this out,' Dante advised him with frustration, watching the blood continue to drip, and the scent of it filled the room, slowly invading his senses.
'Things were easy back then… when we were children,' Maxwell said, ignoring Dante's words, and he continued, 'But I can help you... make way—'
'You don't have to—'
Dante heard the metal tear through the flesh, ripping it further, and saw Maxwell's body going slack on the bed. And just as darkness filled the dead man's eyes, hollowness entered Dante's eyes in shock.
Back in the dining room, Anastasia stared at Dante, not knowing what he was thinking about. Even though he seemed nonchalant about his brother's death, the atmosphere of the room turned heavy, and she wondered if it was the demon side of him which made it easier for him to cope. Because even though he was a creature of the underworld, he had grown up here, and had avoided conflicts with his family.
But by the looks of it, it didn't seem like he would avoid it anymore.
"The weight of a crown is heavier than it appears," Dante said calmly. "Because every king becomes a king by stepping on the previous dead person. The crown carries the burden of death and suffering, and when placed on a weak soul, it breaks the person."
Away from the dining room, in the king's chamber, the Mother Queen and her minister stood at the side, watching the deceased king's wound being cleaned and stitched up. Meanwhile, Princess Emily and Prince Aiden stood outside the room.
A servant walked inside the room after bowing at the entrance. Upon reaching where the Mother Queen stood, the servant whispered something to her. The old woman murmured,
"I see. You may return to your duties."
Aziel whispered, "My Queen, I still don't understand why Prince Dante lied about how the king died."
"Committing suicide is a sign of cowardice for a king," the Mother Queen said, her eyes on the physician sewing up her dead grandson's chest. She explained, "Though alcohol isn't far off, it is less disgraceful. Dante was saving his brother's honour so that people wouldn't remember him as a coward."
Aziel nodded, and he said, "That only means Prince Dante isn't possessed by the demon nature."
"There is nothing to be possessed here," the Mother Queen said grimly. "The demon has only just woken up, and we need to make sure to not ruin the mood. Have all the members of the family gathered right away, so no one does anything stupid."
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